This application claims the priority of German application 197 20 584.4, filed in Germany on May 16, 1997, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a side impact protection device for an occupant of a vehicle, comprising a housing fastened on the vehicle body side, a gas generator and an air bag, a partition with a blocking effect for the gas flow emerging from the gas generator being provided within the air bag and a main flow-through opening being constructed on the partition.
A side impact protection device of the type generally described above is known from German Patent Document DE 44 43 027 A1. Because of the distance between the vertical center-of-gravity axis of the gas generator and the housing to the vertical center axis of the main flow-through opening, during the inflation of the air bag, an erection moment for the air bag occurs below the partition which has the tendency to erect the air bag farther toward the front (i.e., rotate the air bag forward) than into the desired ideal operating position. This tendency is promoted by the fact that, at the time of the contact with the air bag, the occupant compresses this air bag.
It is an object of the invention to take such measures that an air bag provided with an interior partition and with a main flow-through opening provided in an offset position with respect to the gas generator on the partition takes up its ideal operating position in the inflated condition.
According to the invention, this and other objects have been achieved by providing a housing fastened on a body side of the vehicle; a gas generator; and an air bag including a partition with a blocking effect for gas flow emerging from the gas generator, said partition defining a main flow-through opening, the air bag being installed when viewed laterally in a mounted position rotated by an angle relative to the gas generator or to the housing in a direction opposite of an erection moment in effect in the air bag during inflation thereof.
According to the invention, this and other objects have been achieved by providing a housing; a gas generator mounted on the housing; and an air bag mounted on the housing and communicating with the gas generator, the air bag being rotated by an angle during inflation thereof by an erection moment, the air bag being mounted rotated by the negative of said angle.
According to the invention, this and other objects have been achieved by providing a method of mounting a side impact air bag in a vehicle, the air bag being rotated by an angle during inflation thereof by an erection moment, said method comprising mounting the air bag rotated by the negative of said angle.
The principal advantages achieved by the invention are that, as the result of the rotated installation of the air bag on the gas generator, the occurring moment during the inflation of the air bag is compensated and the inflated air bag is not displaced toward the front beyond its ideal operating position, whereby the operational safety of the side impact protection device is increased.